Free Republic

<p>LOS ANGELES – Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante criticized Arnold Schwarzenegger for not attending a recall campaign debate Wednesday, and he invited the other three candidates present to join him outside a forum set for next week and "leave Arnold in there with his movie-script answers."</p>

Hard-line cleric faces expulsion from Finsbury Park mosque By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor. (Filed: 17/01/2003) The radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza faces expulsion within days from the London mosque he has made a focal point for Islamic fundamentalism. The Charity Commission is preparing to use its banning powers under the Charities Act to end Hamza's occupation of Finsbury Park mosque, a registered charity. Hamza, an Egyptian-born engineer who lost both hands and an eye tackling a mine in Afghanistan, has become one of the most controversial figures in the British Muslim community. He and his supporters have taken control...

US hardline on Iraq leaves full-scale invasion a 'hair-trigger' away Julian Borger in Washington, Ewen MacAskill, and Ian Black in Brussels Thursday October 3, 2002 The Guardian Washington last night revealed its intention to use UN weapons inspections as a possible first step towards a military occupation of Iraq by sending in troops, sealing off "exclusion zones" and creating secure corridors throughout the country. In a leaked proposal for a UN resolution drafted by the US with help from British officials, the Bush administration is seeking to transform the inspections process into a coercive operation. The resolution would place a...

TEHRAN, Sept 23 (AFP) - The government of Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami is to submit a bill to Majlis Tuesday seeking to expand presidential powers limited by conservative-dominated institutions, IRNA reported Monday. Vice President for legal and parliamentary affairs Mohammad-Ali Abtahi will introduce the bill, IRNA said. The bill, details of which have yet to be released, has to be discussed in the relevant Majlis committee before being put to the vote, a procedure that may take several weeks considering parliament's busy agenda, unless it wins priority. It is about "more precise and concrete application of the constitution", Khatami...

A two-day conference has opened in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in support of the Palestinian uprising against the Israelis. Held in commemoration of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, father of the Iranian revolution, it brought together many figures regarded by both Israel and the US as hardened terrorists. Among them were leaders from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas movements, and from the Lebanese Hezbollah. There was also Ahmed Jibril, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, whose son Jihad was killed last month in Beirut in what was believed to be an Israeli action. Martyrdom...

Hard line against migrants empties Oz camps April 09 2002 at 09:22AM Canberra - Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock is too cautious to crow about it, but the nation's hardline strategy of diverting boatpeople to poor Pacific neighbours seems a success - at least by government standards. According to Ruddock, not a single boat has reached Australia since last August, when the government began intercepting vessels and either forcing them back to sea or diverting their human cargo to Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG) for processing. More tellingly, no boat has even tried to reach Australia since mid-December from...